Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, relate to a semiconductor device capable of controlling the amount of idle current according to a temperature and a temperature controlling method thereof.
In recent years, the use of mobile devices such as a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a digital camera, an MP3 player, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and the like has rapidly increased. Such mobile devices may necessitate a high-speed processor due to multimedia processing and an increase in throughput of various types of data. The mobile devices may include semiconductor devices such as a working memory (e.g., a DRAM), a nonvolatile memory, and an application processor (AP) to drive various application programs. The degree of integration and driving frequencies of the semiconductor devices is expected to increase according to a demand for high performance at a mobile environment.
In a mobile device, managing of a temperature of a semiconductor device may be very important to improve an overall performance and to reduce power consumption of the mobile device. A temperature of a semiconductor device may be managed by measuring a temperature precisely and controlling the temperature rapidly and appropriately according to the measured result. In particular, an idle current of a semiconductor device may increase as a refinement process for high integration is developed. The amount of idle current of the semiconductor device may be highly susceptible to a temperature. A phenomenon (e.g., Thermal Runaway) causing a mutual rising action between an increase in a temperature and an increase in an idle current may significantly degrade the performance of the semiconductor device.
In high-performance semiconductor devices, an unintended rapid increase in a temperature may greatly affect the performance and reliability of the semiconductor devices. As the market for mobile devices expands, managing of temperatures of semiconductor devices included in mobile devices becomes important. Thus, a technique is required for efficiently controlling temperatures of semiconductor devices included in a mobile device or another electronic device.